Trading Places
by Black Star's Wife
Summary: He was a orphaned nobody,and she is a powerful princess. SessRin Reverse!AU
1. Chapter 1

Sesshomaru was worn out. He'd been walking aimlessly for trekked to the forest at the Easternmost edge of the West's were scent markers his. His father's. Well, not anymore,he was another scent he couldn't identify,as well. As he now walked along,he thought to himself. How had this happened to him? He supposed that that's just how life was:there one minute and gone the remembered exactly how he had gotten into this situation,like it had happened yesterday.

* * *

 _Even though he and his father had their differences,he had always been content in every other facet of his life. He had a doting mother (even if she did another him),a vast fiefdom,and the attention of his father. Then in one fell swoop,all that ended,and his comfortable life had been upheaved. His mother suddenly took ill,and in a short span she was gone. In the matter of what seemed like moments (but what was actually more along the lines of about half a decade) his mother was snatched from him._

 _He had taken his mother's loss hard,though none would know it as he held his composure,as was proper and expected of the future Lord of the West. His father,however took very little time to mourn. He had almost suddenly took a new bride. A_ _ **human**_ _bride. She stood stood almost eye level with him,so Sesshomaru had no choice but to look her in the eye,much to his chagrin. She had long,glossy black hair. A dull color, in Sesshomaru's opinion. Her eyes were large and hazel,and framed by long lashes. She had a round face and a slim but supple frame. She was_ _ **Izayoi,**_ _and she was to be Sesshomaru's stepmother._

 _And though she was always kind and sweet to Sesshomaru,and treated him like her own son, Sesshomaru would never come to love her. He would constantly hurl insults after her,telling her that she was nothing more than a replacement,and his father's bed warmer. His father never stood for it,and commanded his son to respect her._

" _You must treat her with the same respect as you would your own mother" said Touga, Sesshomaru's father,after he and his son's latest argument over his abuse toward her._

" _Hn" was Sesshomaru's slated response. Despite the fact that she was a beautiful human,she was just that,_ _ **human**_ _, and would never have Sesshomaru's respect,or love. How could his father disgrace his mother's memory like that,by mating with what she hated most: a human._

 _And then worst of all came the_ _ **baby**_ _. Born disgustingly soon after the wedding,was a little baby boy. He was born under the cursed,New Moon. He was born with black hair,just like his human mother. As the night goes back into day,the boys hair lightened,and he grew two tiny fangs to his parents delight. They named him InuYasha,or dog spirit, and he was a living curse to Sesshomaru._

 _Touga was enamoured with his new family,and Sesshomaru,plainly,was not. He did try to get along with them,honestly,but it was never good enough for his father. Was it his fault the stupid baby cried every time he tweaked his ears? No,the baby was just baby was loud,and pink and smelly. Sesshomaru stayed as far as he could from it. Izayoi,who was a conscious,and mobile adult,he couldn't called him into her room,where she and his father slept one day._

" _Let me brush your hair Sesshomaru." she said to him several times._

" _No.I have servants to do that." he said._

" _But_ **I** _want to do it. You never let me.", she whined._

" _Right,and I still won't let you." He turned to leave, but she grabbed his sleeve._

" _You and I have never had time to bond as mother and son." She looked a little forlorned._

" _ **You never were my mother and you never will be. My mother is human slut."**_ _Sesshomaru wretched his hand free from her grip,breaking her wrist in the process. She cried out in pain,and his father came running into the room._

" _ **WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO HER?**_ " _He bellowed,eyes bleeding red and facial stripes becoming jagged._

" _ **She needs to learn her is not my mother,she's your whore."**_ _Sesshomaru hissed back at Touga.'Ever since she came here everything's different. You don't have time for me you ignore me. You only have time for her and that vile, half-bred_ _ **thing**_ _."_

 _Touga,for the first time ever,struck his son across the face. His claws were drawn,and his hand was covered in Sesshomaru's blood._

" _Get out." he said,voice so quiet that even Sesshomaru's demonic hearing almost didn't pick it up._

" _What? You can't kick me out!I'm your heir!" said Sesshomaru,outraged._

" _Not anymore. You are banished until you learn some respect. Don't come back until I send for you."_

" _You can't do this to me,I'm your son!" Sesshomaru said incredulously. Power gathered into the palm of Touga's hand as he held it out,palm towards Sesshomaru's face._

" _ **Not any more."**_

 _And that was the last Sesshomaru saw of his family._

* * *

Sesshomaru continued to trudge along. He was tired to the point that he couldn't see straight. He couldn't remember the last time he had was walking with no destination in mind,simply trying to get away from painful memories,and his lost title. He was simply Sesshomaru,not the heir of the West,not the son of Touga,Inu no Taisho. He was nobody.

He was so lost in thought that he didn't hear the _pitter patter_ of paws,until the howls were upon him. He was suddenly felt the sharp fangs of rabid _wolves_ in the back of his neck,as he was slung to the ground. He was disoriented,and the wolves were upon him,biting him and slashing him with their claws. How could he have been so stupid to have not noticed he had stumbled into Wolf territory? That's what the unfamiliar scent was! He was so far lost in thought that he had missed all of the scent markers and invisible boundaries. He finally summoned his wits,and brought out his poison wip,and swung it at his assailants. He managed to cut two of the wolves clean in half, and the rest of the wolves jumped out of the way. He was able to stand, and he waved his arms wildly. Tis drove the rest of the wolves away,running with their tails between their ,he collapsed back to his knees,and then back onto his stomach as his eyes rolled back he caught sight of a shadowy figure. The the darkness overtook him.

* * *

Hi. I'm not dead and I finally have free time. Ive always wanted to write an InuYasha fanfic,so here I am


	2. Chapter 2

**WARNING:** Some OOCness, mentions of menstrual blood, and torture of a like,don't read,but you can also skip down to the line

Also I forgot to mention that Sesshomaru is the human equivalent of being somewhere between 13 and 15.

* * *

Sesshomaru was very vaguely aware of others in his general vicinity,but he couldn't do anything about it. He heard them,speaking in hushed tones,and they came closer were about three of them,and they were all male.

"See. I told you I wasn't crazy. It's right here,now pay up." The voice was nasally,and then heard a scoff and a soft clink,supposedly money was exchanged, and whoever had received the money gave a deviant and gleeful little chuckle.

"Well now what?" Came a second voice. This one was higher and reedy,and he disliked this one as well.

"I'm pretty sure it's dead. Not worth nearly as much as I'm sure we can still get something for the teeth and hair. Shamans and blacksmiths go nuts for demon teeth." This third voice was gruff and skeptical. Sesshomaru instantly decided that he needed to get away from whoever these people were,and whatever they wanted from him. He went to stand and before he could so much as raise an arm,pain shot through his heard the three men jump,but they soon settled.

"Holy shit it's still alive! Did you see it twitch?" Cried Nasally. Reedy laughed and said "I think its one of those white dog demons from the West! What's it doing all the way over here?

then Gruff clapped his hands.

"I don't know and I don't care. But, I do know somewhere that this thing would get us a shit ton of money! We can take it to the witch priestess in the _that_ village." The other two cheered. One (who he assumed to be Reedy) nudged him with a foot and he opened one bleary eye. The sun beat down from behind them so he could only see their outlines. Two tall,thin men and one larger,more robust man. Gruff,the larger man reached down and grabbed his shoulders, and dug his hands into wounds there. The pain over took him,and all went black once again.

.oO0Oo.

Sesshomaru woke again after being dumped unceremoniously onto a hard surface. It was cold,and because no light pierced his eyelids, he assumed it was dark. Behind him, he felt the three familiar and definitely not comforting presence of the three men. He growled inwardly. Where the hell was he now? He cracked an eyelid to see that it was indeed dark, but he was in what appeared to be an old shack or hit of some sort. On the wall directly to his left that he could see,we're shelves lined with dried herbs. When he rolled his eye, saw more herbs hanging from the ceiling. The gruff voice broke through his contemplation of his situation.

"See Kaede,just like we promised. A demon,and a strong one at that!" Another person,Kaede,he supposed,moved in front of him. He was roughly snatched off of the floor by his chin,and now stared into the eyes of a wrinkly old human woman. She had stringy,white hair tied back in a ponytail, and her moth set in a thin stared each other in the eye for a moment,before she dropped the eye contact in favor of looking behind him.

" _She'll_ be here on the morrow. Ye ought to wait for her until then.I'll be subjugating this one tonight." the old woman grumbled. The three men laughed lavisciously. "She'll pay us nicely right?" inquired Nasally. "Yes,yes she will bring ye thou out with ye." The men left,but not before kicking Sesshomaru once more,tormenting him. 'He he,once she's done with you,you'll be the obedient puppy you were meant to be." Gruff taunted as he and the others left out of the door.

"What _are_ ye doing this far North? You are a very powerful daiyoukai,of Inu No Taisho's clan,if I'm not mistaken. But no demon is immune to _mine_ subjugation process. You _will_ be useful to her."

.oO0Oo.

The subjugation process was partially exactly what Sesshomaru thought it was,and also something he didn't was connected to the walls by hand irons around his wrists. At first he thought the whole thing would be a joke,just her circling him while chanting out of some old tome,but he quickly found this to be a lie. He was surrounded by burning incense,all stinging his nose At first,it all seemed like a load of bunk,it was her throwing cleansing salt in his hurt a little,but large crystals hitting anyone in the face would sting a little. But then she ripped off what remained of his shirt,and produced a weapon like a flail. It was a cat-o-nine-tails, and there was a talisman wrapped around its raised it up above her head,and yelled " _JūjundearuKanojo no ishi ni shitagau!"_ and brought her arm down was already weak and wounded,and it felt like the strike had wrended all the flesh from his back. ' _Submit! Obey her will!'_ She had ? What did that mean? Before he could contemplate it anymore,another strike came. He ground his teeth together. Strike. ' _A young lord would not cry out._ ' He suddenly remembers his father. Strike. "Let thy will break,and thee shall be released!" She struck him again. ' _Will?_ ' he had not even the will to live a few hours ago. He held out for a few more strikes that seemed to increase in intensity as time went on.

Strike.

Strike.

Strike.

Strike.

' _What even is will?' 'What is will?' 'ithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurts'_

Up until this point he was silent,but he couldn't take it anymore. "I-" and his torturer stopped mid swing. Her face was set in a scowl the whole time,but it softened a little. "So he speaks. Do you submit to the divine will of Her Majesty?" "..." Kaede raised the flail again and he flinched "Yes"

She smirked and turned to reach for something he couldn't see. She walked around him and held a small stone bowl under his nose. Whatever was in the bowl was thick and red. It was clearly blood,but it smelled wrong. He had smelled this strange scent on a girl before it was- "A woman's cycle blood has many spiritual properties,including taming demons. This particular blood as it comes from the only member of the Royal Family. Be grateful demon, to be able to submit to her will totally." She took the bowl,and dumped its contents onto the open flesh of his back,and he screamed. She threw the bowl away in favor of a pair of pliers and wrenched his head back. She then proceeded to rip all of his fangs from his mouth, and set them aside. She came to his side and released him from the chains. He fell to the floor,and yet again and passed out.

* * *

At this point,Sesshomaru has spent more time passed out than awake. This chapter came to me in a pretty jacked up dream. Hope you enjoyed,please read and review


	3. Chapter 3

Sesshomaru suddenly became hut wasn't very well made,as sunlight streamed into the room through the walls. He suddenly became aware of a few things. The first was that the woman had her back turned to him and appeared to be cooking something over the fire that was lit in the middle of the was _very_ hungry,seeing as he hadn't eaten for more than a month. Demon bodies could go weeks without food,but seeing as he also hadn't had any water,that time shortened significantly. The second thing he was aware of was the fact that he was bandaged. His entire upper body was wrapped in clothes that smelled like woman had healed him,but why? Was this all a sadistic game where she would torture him again who was the _she_ everyone spoke of? He had many questions,but he really didn't know what the answers were,nor did he want to ask his captor.

He sat up slowly,to test the limit of how much his wounds would let him move. Surprisingly, there was little pain,and he was probably just stiff from the several days he had spent on the ground at this point.

"For ye to be of the Great Dog Generals clan,ye sure took thy time to awaken. Before you ask,it's been three time for her to have made her way here from the palace. Thou art a very lucky demon,to be bound to her." The old woman had a wistful almost dreamy look in her eyes. ' _What type of princess incites this type of excitement in sadistic old ladies?'_ Sesshomaru thought, bit wisely didn't say out loud.

The old woman continued. "Our princess is an angel,no a goddess. A long while ago,when I was but a girl, this land was plagued by demons of all sorts. Our crops were ruined,our children stolen,and our men slaughtered for decades. One day,a girl no older than myself at the time arrived in this village. She was beautiful beyond compare,so much so that she literally glowed. The demons who took over tried to take her but she simply took out a knife,cut her hand,and flung the blood at them,and they bowed to her will. She went about the lands here and soon,almost all the demons here were under her control." She looked pointedly at Sesshomaru. "And the few that didn't met their end at the blade of the same then,she declared us free,and we declared her our queen. She decided for herself that the title Princess fit better,and that was that. We built her a palace,and she has ruled with a gentle hand since then. May her wisdom continue to guide us,and her blood and blade protect us. So mote it be!" Kaede finished. It sounded like a prayer. So he was about to be handed from a sadistic which of an old lady,to some fanatical blood queen of an old woman that would rather call herself a princess? He found himself wondering if just one human whore was worth his title and this humility. He wished he was home,in the comfort of the Western palace,under the negligent eye of his father,and the disgusting hand of Izayoi. That was better than a band of human witches with demon fetishes!

.oO0Oo.

There was a sound like a trumpet. Kaede made sound like a squeal but her grizzled old vocal chords didn't quite make the cut. "She's here!" Sesshomaru was sure that if she could, Kaede would be bouncing off of the walls of the hut in her excitement. She pulled Sesshomaru from where he sat on the floor with surprising strength,and removed his bandages. To his surprise,all of his wounds were healed. After that,she began dusting off his dirty clothes -which were beyond saving- and attempted to lay down his tangled hair. He was sure he looked like a wild animal. Kaede seemed to be vibrating, and she seemed like a little girl meeting her crush. Sesshomaru heard the sound of rhythmic stepping,which meant there was a norimono nearby. Kaede ushered him outside. The norimono outside was large,and decorated in ornate golden flowers, and was carried by 4 large demons,horse demons if he was correct. The door was opened by a 5th demon,a bird demon,just as Sesshomaru was forced into a low bow in the dirt by Kaede,who also rushed to bow in front of him. He he tilted his head back slightly so he could see who stepped out.

With his head still down,he could only see the woman's junihitoe. The outermost layer, the karaginu, was a burnt,sunset orange, as was the bottom most layer,the nagabakama. The sleeves were embroidered in a pea green. The second layer underneath (itsutsuginu) was a pale orange. The hitoe was either a pale yellow or white,but it was hard to tell. Her uchiginu,which draped across the floor, was also white. Overall,she was impeccably dressed,as a princess should be.

Finally she spoke. " Kaede. You and I have known each other for far to long. Raise your head and greet me properly." Kaede perked up,and stood up. The princess came closer. And Kaede met her. The way the fabric rustled-were they hugging? No wonder the Kaede was so eager to hand him over to this woman! They were in kahoots! Two sadistic old women out to get him! They probably had his torture contingency plan already. He got lost in thought,and didn't notice that the two women's conversation had shifted and they had moved closer to him. "And who do we have here?" The princess asked. "This is a White Dog Demon from the west. They found him out in the woods half starved. They figured that you didn't have anything like it in your menagerie yet. Or that you might like a pet to play with." The woman came even closer. "What's your name?" She asked softly. He didn't respond. Kaede walked over to them fast,and smacked him in the back of the head. "Respond when Her Majesty speaks to thee,insolent hound! Do you need to be whipped again?" Sesshomaru shrunk back unconsciously. The woman stood up straight and grabbed Kaede's hand before she could strike him again. "You have not yet even asked him his name?" She bent over again and placed her hand gently under his chin. She raised his head so he looked into her eyes.

The first thing he noticed was that the girl was actually young, only a few years older than him,if not the same age as had a heart shaped face, with big doe brown eyes set atop a button nose and full,pink lips (he did admit,the old wanna was right,she did _glow_ ).She had dark brown hair that mostly fell down her back in silk tresses,except for a small portion held off to the side by her emotsutoi. Overall she was beautiful,after all,several days of sweaty men and a sadistic woman, her face was welcome. "What's your name?" She asked again,sweetly. "Sesshomaru." He replied quietly. Why had he spoken after he resigned himself from speaking. "Well Sesshomaru, from today on you're my new friend. You get to come home to the palace with me. Would that be alright with you?" He found himself nodding,despite himself. "Wait, before you leave,I have something for thee." Kaede ran back in her gut and returned with something in her hand. It was a necklace of black pearls and something else. They were white - were those his fangs? That they were,the same fangs that had been ripped from him, those days ago when he first arrived in Kaede's charge. Kaede handed them to the princess. "Outside of thy blood, black pearls are the best in use for the subjugation of demons. These also soaked in thy blood for three days. With his fangs laced in, this necklace,along with a command word,will render him completely powerless. When you put on the necklace, say the word that you want to use to bind him." The princess placed the necklace around Sesshomaru's neck and said "Heel." With what felt like the weight of a thousand suns,Sesshomaru was slammed into the ground. The princess was shocked to say the least as she flinched very hard as well. Sesshomaru,dazed,managed to pick his head off of the ground after a moment. The Saviour looked concerned,and turned to Kaede a hand to her mouth. "And it'll do that _every_ time I say h- _that_ word? Even when I don't mean to use the spell?" "Yes Thy Radiance, every time. It's fine most assuredly. He'll learn to heed thy call the first time" Kaede looked at him with a manic glint in her eye. The princess looked vaguely uncomfortable and he felt the innate urge to hold her hand,or comfort her in some small way. He shook his head. ' _Where had that come from?'_ That thought had certainly belonged to him!

The princess straightened up and cleared her throat. "Well we must be going now. Thank so much for this gift Kaede. You've given me a great friend,I can feel it. Here, make sure your helpers are gifted this as well.) The princess reached into one of her endless layers and pulled out a small pouch that bulges with what was most likely money. She placed it in Kaede's hand. She leaned forward and hugged the old woman again. She turned back to him and said "Sesshomaru,come." and he stood and his body began following him, out of his control and under hers. They got into the norimono,and Sesshomaru looked at the old woman one last time before the curtain was closed by a footman.

* * *

Yo. Sorry this is late,it was finals week. Next week's chapter,will be faster,I promise. I'll try to update once a week,every week. I'm also writing a Fairy Tail fanfic if you're interested. Please read and review.

What Rin is wearing: .


	4. Chapter 4

The norimono ride was much bigger on the inside than it was on the outside. There was some sort of enchantment on it,clearly, because there was enough room for the princess's enormous junihitoe,and him,but still there was enough room that he didn't have to touch her at all. They sat a comfortable distance away. He was able to lean back against the wall behind him and he stared into his lap,unsure if he was permitted to look at her. After what he had been through on his own, it seemed silly to need permission to look someone in the eye,but that was a move of power. If there was one thing Sesshomaru understood,it was power. He,as a young Lord,knew that he had the right to look almost anyone in the eye. He also remembers that in his youthful tyranny he would punish servant demons for this offense. Later on,as they integrated humans into their services,as petty as he was,he would always opt for maximum punishments against them,only for Izayoi or Touga to save them. His face muscles twitched down at the thought of them. ' _No,'_ he wouldn't think of were part of his past and behind him. He noticed that through his thoughts the ride had not been as silent as he thought. The whole time,the princess had been humming. A sweet tune that fit her angelic voice. There were sounds from outside,too. The sound of the plodding steps of the large demon footmen,as well as their was a rustle of wind through the autumn leaves,and strangely,Sesshomaru felt at peace. The peace didn't last long,of course.

"You're a dog demon,right? I've never met a dog demon. I have many wolf demon friends,but no dog demon friends. I would think it rude to assume you're anything alike,to group you like the common animals." The princess spoke up after a long span of silence. Sesshomaru would have prefered for it to stay silent, but at this point, he had no right to demand her compliance. Thus far,she had been surprisingly pleasant,but seeing as he had only known her for a few minutes,and his previous company had been that of sadistic old women and oafish, money hungry men,and starving wolves. Sesshomaru would be a fool to trust her so soon.

"Won't you tell me your name? I like to know the names of new friends." The princess tried again. She was trying to get him to talk,but Sesshomaru had long since resolved himself to silence. He would ignore her until he couldn't,and only then would he princess gave a tiny huff,not an exasperated sigh,but a sad one. "I won't force you to speak,but I would like it if you eventually would. I like to talk, I've always been told I talk too much,but for a long period of time, I didn't speak at all. I think I talk so much now to make up for lost time. Well, I think it would be rude for me not to call you by name at all, so what if I give you a name-until you tell me yours,at least. How about Shiro,or Noboru,or-"

"Sesshomaru"

"What?"

"Sesshomaru. My name."

"Oh. I knew I would get you to talk eventually" the princess smiled at him and he looked away.

' _Damn'_ He really didn't want to tell her,but it was either that or let her continue to prattle on,and probably name him something absolutely ridiculous. Honestly,for this girl to be as old as she claimed,she acted only as old as she looked,or perhaps even younger.

"Well, I'm glad that we've passed that milestone so early on. We'll reach the palace soon,and I can show you you're new home." The princess looked genuinely happy. Sesshomaru didn't know whether or not to be scared,but he knew he wasn't gonna like it.

.oO0Oo.

The ride in the norimono ended soon after,and Sesshomaru was finally allowed out. In front of him was an enormous palace, probably big enough to rival that of the Western Land's. The palace was red,unironically. 'The _Blood Princess lives in a blood palace,huh"_ the subtlety was not lost on him. The highest tenshukaku loomed over the rest of the buildings menacingly. The palace was built into the rolling hills around the edge of the forest they had traveled through. The palaces tell tale musha-gaeshi sloped well into the stone. Even though it was called a palace, this could easily be confused for a castle.

Sesshomaru jumped out first,not wanting to be in the cramped space with the young woman any longer. The princess got out of the norimono was set down behind him,and turned to the demons who had carried it.

"Thank you so much for your hard work,take a rest. Next time,I'll take Ah-Un out with the carriage."

They entered into the front gates and a demoness came to greet them. She was of average height,with reddish-brown hair down to her waist,with moss green eyes,a young round face,and pointed ears. She wore a matcha green kimono with pink flower shaped obi was red,and tied to the front in a large, whorish was something familiar about her and he thought it over for about it for only a few moments before it hit him: this girl was a panther demon! His natural inborn instinct as a white dog demon dictated that he immediately attack this girl. He growled,and felt his face begin to contort into his true demonic form,and his stance dropped from where he was standing just over the princess' shoulder. The girl also seemed to realize what it was that he was. She also hissed and dropped down,her legs began to bunch and flower petals flew to her palms from seemingly nowhere. The princess who was trapped between them looked between the two of them and frowned,furrowing her brow.

"You two,what is wrong with you?" she queried The two gave no indication that they heard her,other than hisses and growls.

" _Shunran_! Stop it! Stop hissing at once!" In an instant,the panther- _Shunran_ supposedly- stopped hissing and righted her posture. Then she spoke.

"I'm sorry R- ah, he is a dog demon! A filthy White Crescent Dog from the West! My people's sworn enemies! How do you think I got here? It was that Inu no Taisho that-"

"That's enough Shunran,more than enough. Please restrain yourself. Please excuse yourself until you have calmed down."

"Yes Princess,of course." Shunran gave a small bow at the waist and turned to walk deeper into the castle,but not before throwing what might have been considered a withering look over her shoulder at didn't raise himself from his battle ready stance until the demoness was out of range of any damaging attack. The princess turned to him and spoke again,this time the furrow in er brow slightly relaxed, so she looked more exasperated and apologetic than anything else.

"I'm so very sorry for that. Your first impression of your new household is ruined. I was so excited to have a new friend that I forgot about the friends I already had. I had also forgotten about the blood feud between the Panthers and the Dogs and Wolves. Shunran is usually the first to greet me upon my return, and I didn't think about the fact that you two would disagree upon first meeting. For that I do apologize." The princess tilted her head and looked sad. For some odd reason, Sesshomaru instantly felt bad,and he wanted to tell her that she didn't have to apologize,but as he threw his hands up to tell her not to she spoke again.

"Oh, in all this excitement, I didn't realize that I had forgotten to introduce myself. My name is Rin,and I want to be your friend."

* * *

I know I swore I would update this once a week,but it looks like it might end up being once every two weeks instead. I know I disappeared for about a month,but it won't happen again. College sucks intense balls.


	5. Chapter 5

After that strangely late introduction,Sesshomaru finally knew the princess' name. He was about to introduce himself again,but he remembered that he already had. Before he could think of anything to say, the princess -er, Rin- gave a little twirl and looked down her junihitoe.

" I love this junihitoe. It was a gift from the Lord of the South. Ever since I took over the Northern Lands, the Lord's have been so nice to me. Especially the Lord of the South,though I believe it's because he want to marry me,but he already has a wife- oh! I'm rambling again. I'm sure that you want to get out of your clothes as much as I want to get out of mine. I'll call someone to help you."

Rin picked up a little porcelain bell from a small end table that had seemingly materialized next to them. She rung it three times and the tinkling sound filled the air. From a seemingly endless front hall a door materialized from the wall. Said wall moved inward to reveal a small figure. "Hold your horses little girl, I'm coming" A small green Kappa? Toad? Was coming toward them, carrying a staff larger than he was tall, dressed in all brown with a small black cap.

The princess put a hand to her mouth and giggled. "Oh Jaken, you're awfully energetic today! Are you excited for a new friend?" The kappa had a vein throbbing in his head. "New friend? You mean another hellion that you scraped out of one of the villages' traps? It's all fun and games for you! You get another pet/minion to play with and I get another headache! As the house steward, you have no idea how much work I put in to make sure things run orderly and in fashion, and you add another mouth for me to factor into the dinner plans! No respect at all for my office! If it weren't for the fact that you'd be _completely_ lost without me, I would have quit this job long ago!"

If Sesshomaru's eyes were bugged out of his head, no one said it, as he stood a few steps behind Rin, and she and the kappa were staring intensely at each other. Who was this little green thing that he could talk to her this way? Did he have a death wish? If the old lady were her, she probably would have skinned him alive! Sesshomaru internally shuddered at the thought. Meanwhile, the princess just giggled and waved the kappa off. "Oh Jaken, what _would_ I do without you? Anyway, would you mind taking our new guest to have a bath and his wounds looked at?"

The newly dubbed Jaken harrumphed and turned his back on them. "You, dog! Come now, quickly, I have other things to be doing!" Sesshomaru looked at the door behind him, and walked until he was a step in front of the princess, and turned to look at her as well. She waved him encouragingly in Jaken's direction, and he fooled the little kappa up the enormous staircase, he hadn't noticed in front of them, fate uncertain of his fate.


End file.
